About the Nokia N96

The Nokia N96 will the latest phone to join in the Nokia NSeries brand when it debuts in what is expected to be August 2008. It is a direct evolution of the Nokia N95 which is arguably Nokia’s best selling smartphone so far.

The specifications for the Nokia N96, as described in Wikipedia *, are shown below :

Differences between the Nokia N95 and the Nokia N96:

• 16GB of integrated memory (as opposed to 8GB for N95 8GB), plus further extensibility via microSD memory card
• 2.8 inch display with 16 million colours (same as N95 8GB, versus 2.6″ display for original N95)
• USB speed changed from USB 2.0 full speed to high-speed (40x faster)
• Camera flash is a dual-LED in the N96 while it is only a single LED in the N95
• New audio DSP for improved audio quality and longer playback time
• New version of Nokia Video Centre
• Longer music playback time (14 hrs) and video playback time (5 hrs)
• Windows Media WMV9 video codec is added
• Hardware acceleration for video codecs for H.264 and WMV (as well as MPEG4 as before)
• Location tagging (geotagging) of pictures, using the integrated GPS
• Mobile TV DVB-H receiver is built into N96
• New release of Nokia Experience Software
  • Maps 2.0 with satellite images, upgrade to pedestrian mode and voice-guided car navigation
  • Internet Radio pre-installed
  • Home Media Solution (sync with DLNA / UPnP devices over WLAN)
  • Online sharing of pictures with plugins for Flickr, Ovi Share and other services (Can be added on N95 with newer version of Share Online Application)
• S60 3rd Edition is upgraded from Feature Pack 1 to Feature Pack 2
  • Symbian OS is upgraded from version 9.2 to 9.3
  • The J2ME engine is upgraded from MIDP 2.0 to MIDP 2.1
  • User data is preserved when upgrading firmware (This feature is also present on the N95-2 as v21 installs UDP base files)
• The FM radio is upgraded with RDS
• Limited graphics acceleration (only for internal apps)
• N96 is a dual-band HSDPA (900 and 2100 MHz) while N95 was a single band (2100)
• MicroSD memory card slot (as in original N95, while N95 8GB has no card slot)
• Same battery as original N95 (950 mAh), but the N96 reportedly has a much better battery life.
• No need to open the slide for optimal GPS reception
• Naviwheel (rocker has touch sensitive mode to scroll through music collection etc)
• New design
  • Landscape-oriented design (landscape oriented speakers, connectors and buttons located optimally for landscape use)
  • Flip-out kickstand
  • Media keys available in all modes (even when slide is closed, for background control of music)
  • Media keys on short side can transform into gaming keys
  • Lockswitch (enables quick lock / unlock of keypad)
  • Thinner and lighter than N95 8GB
• No infra-red port on N96

*The source of the Wikipedia data is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N96 , and is reproduced here under the terms of the Wikipedia GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).